Lost in the Darkness
by blaze8
Summary: A girl with nothing to live for finds hope from the past.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer:  
  
I do not own any of the Newsies that are in my story that are from the movie (nor do I claim to). I do own the Newsies that are in my story, but not in the movie (now those, I claim). There's the spiel, now lets get on with the story, k? (Thanks Storm Dreamer!) 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One  
  
Chloe looked around the dismal surroundings in her dark cell at the Refuge. It was funny, when she thought about it, but even after the Newsies exposed the Refuge on their treatment of inmates, things only got worse. Snyder just tried harder to cover up all of the wrong doings of the place, and he seemed to be succeeding. When the monthly visit occurred to evaluate whether or not the place was improving, he threatened the kids with no food, water, or blankets unless they acted content and well fed.  
  
Her stomach twisted from hunger. It was very difficult to live off of the leftovers from other inmate's meals, seeing as there were hardly any to speak of. That little system started three days ago, when she got in a fight with one of the other girls in the place. Looking back on the fight, both the black eye that she got from it and her punishment, she felt that it was all worth it. She had never gotten along with Ash, but she usually had an easy enough time ignoring her comments, but on that one day, she was extremely sensitive. It had been the one-year anniversary of her father's death, and that had been the choice topic of Ash's insults.  
  
Her dad had been a thief, plain and simple. Not for his whole life, mind you, but ever since they came to America. When they came to the country from Russia after her mother died, he couldn't find any other kind of work. America didn't take to kindly to immigrants, despite what was told. Chloe didn't remember anything about Russia, or about her mother for that matter, but from the stories that her father had told her, she felt that she was cheated out of a lot in her life. When he couldn't find work, he refused to let them die of starvation, so he took action. He had always promised her that one-day he would quit, but that day never seemed to come. He got mixed up with the wrong gang, and crossed the wrong people. And when he tried to leave the life of a thief, they killed him. Plain and simple. A clean shot in the head, and a nightmare for his daughter from then on.  
  
But oddly enough, Chloe never felt bitter towards her father. The majority of the memories left behind were happy ones. Ones of them laughing and talking about everything: friends, work, and even boys. She loved her father dearly, and missed him equally. But the one thing that she did hold a grudge about was that her father had gotten her into the business of theft. Not the big time, second story work that he did, but petty theft: pick pocketing, shoplifting, basically anything and everything that she could get her hands on that wasn't hers, she took. And she was damn good at what she did. And that was what landed her here. With rats, mold, mildew, dirt, and smart-ass girls who couldn't keep their mouths shut. Chloe felt that it was her duty for the world to shut them for them. Many girls didn't like to go against her; she had learned many things from living as a thief. She was a ruthless and unpredictable fighter, something that helped her walk away alive in more than a few situations. And that was the story of her life.  
  
Except for Jack. She smile to herself just thinking about him. He had been her only solace. Her own personal "refuge" in her sometimes depressing world. He was her big brother; at least that was what she considered him to be. He and his newsies had been quick to hide her from the cops, and talk to her when she was down or lonely. But even though she was good friends with all of them, she knew that, no matter what, she could always go back to Jack. And that was what she was going to do the second that she got out of the Refuge. Go back to Jack. Go back home. But that seemed like such a long ways away from her life right now, if you could call it a life. That was her dream though, and sometimes, it felt like her unreachable goal. Some nights, she had a dream that felt so real; felt that if she could only reach out far enough, she could touch him. If she could only find her voice, she could talk to him. Just being with him would be enough. It was hell for her to wake up, and realize that he might as well be in Santa Fe, he felt so far away. But he was the one thing that kept her alive, thriving, and never giving up without a fight.  
  
She had met him when running from the cops. She was clumsy when cleaning a guy out; he sneezed, and took her hand out of his pocket instead of his handkerchief. Jack had taken her to the Manhattan Newsie lodging house, and given her a place to stay for the night, no questions asked. She loved him so much it hurt, the love of a sister for her brother, and she missed him. She often wondered if he thought of her as much as she thought of him. Deciding that it was too depressing a reality to think other wise, she believed he did. But she remembered him all right. His quick need to help others, and equally quick smile. His tough guy attitude he tried to impose on people, even though he was a softy at heart. He was the total opposite of her, and that's probably why she loved him so much. 


	3. Chapter 2

As Jack sat on the rooftop and looked up into the stars, he let his mind wander. How had it come to this? What had he done? Ever since Chloe left, he hadn't been the same. It had been too long of a time since he'd been truly happy. Sure, he tried to put on a show for his friends, but he had a feeling that they knew that it was just that: an act, a façade. The last time that he had been happy was the last time that he'd been with Chloe. They had laid there, on the same spot that he was sitting now, and talked about the future. That seemed to be the favorite topic of conversation for Chloe: the future. Never the past. There were too many ghosts, she'd say. They talked about what would become of them, how they'd be friends for life. Then, she turned serious.  
  
"Jack," she said solemnly.  
  
"Yeah Chloe?"  
  
"What if I wasn't here; what if I had to go away for a while, would you still be my friend?"  
  
Jack was about to brush that question off with a funny remark, but then he saw her eyes. The playful glow that he had grown so accustomed to was gone, and in it's place, seemingly endless sadness.  
  
"Of coise I would Chloe," He said in all seriousness. "Why are ya askin'?" he inquired.  
  
"No reason, just wonderin'." She said, and the sadness was masked over by her usual mischievous look.  
  
And that had been that. No more talk about her leaving. But when he woke up the next morning, still on the roof, she was gone. She wasn't in the bunkroom, or at her usual hangouts. He and the Newsies from all over looked for her. She wasn't in the Bronx, Brooklyn or Harlem. She was nowhere to be found, as if she never existed. The only thing left of her was her ruby ring that Jack found underneath his pillow.  
  
He studied that ring now. She had told him that it was her mothers, and her father gave it to her on her sixteenth birthday.  
  
He remembered her too well, and could recall her face as easily as the day he first saw her.  
  
His first impression of her was that of someone completely self-assured. But the more he got to know her, the more he realized that it was the complete opposite.  
  
She was a contradiction of herself. She was giving and kind, yet a thief. She was cunning, yet sometimes gullible. She was soft, yet hard; the streets had bred her to be so. She was tough, yet se easily hurt. And she was beautiful, yet unaware. Her hair was the color of a raven, and her eyes, the sky.  
  
He thought of all those things while up there on the roof, and felt to familiar pang of sadness. It was a shame, in his eyes, that it would take her absence to realize how much he really loved her. 


	4. Chapter 3

As Chloe sat by herself, she grew restless. She couldn't this much more. She needed to talk to someone, to see someone. The only light she really got was when her food was dropped off to her in the afternoon. She would sit there by the little slot, and anticipate that small minute where she would get a breath of fresh air, and actually see what was outside that door. She had to do something.  
  
The next day, she sat by the slot, and just waited. Then, she heard the steps of the guard walking to her door. She could hear the jingle of his keys as if she were far away, as if she were someplace else. Then, it opened. The guard pushed her dish into the opening, and she could see his hand. Suddenly, Chloe grabbed his hand and pulled with all of her night. The guards face went straight into the door, and she heard the glorious sound of his nasal bones breaking, right before he slid to the ground. She reached her hand outside the slot, and felt for the keys. Once she had them in her hand, she twisted her arm around so she could insert them into the keyhole. She had to try at least five keys before she got the right one. Victoriously, she smiled as she pushed the heavy iron door open. She made it.  
  
She knew her way around the Refuge as well as she knew the way around the Lodging House. At the end of the corridor, she turned left, and headed toward the broken window. Right as she reached it, she felt someone grab her arm and pin her around. It was Snyder.  
  
"Just where do you think you're going?" He asked her as he slapped her across the face.  
  
Chloe felt rage, then fear in equal measure. There was no way that she was going back, she would rather die. She needed to see Jack again, to see all of her friends, and she wasn't going to let Snyder stand in her way. She fought the fear, the fear that engendered the paralyzing helplessness, and tried to stir the rage to full flame. Suddenly, two other guards appeared from around the corner, coming to Snyder's aid.  
  
All were silent, simply moving her in a three-quarter circle, making her retreat back down the hallway from where she had just escaped. The halls were silent; the only sound was the steady breaths of those three men coming towards her to capture her again.  
  
To lock her up. She didn't want to go back. Three more feet, and her back would be against the wall at the end of the hall.  
  
"Maybe when I'm done with you, I can find your precious Jack Kelly, and bring him as your company." Snyder said.  
  
The fear left her; rage flooded over. Capture Jack? Oh, no, that wouldn't happen, she wouldn't let it.  
  
She judged the distance, her chances of taking the guards before Snyder grabbed her were slim. There was no chance. She would be captured, but not without securing Jack's freedom. She would make Snyder realize that she would never let him get Jack.  
  
Suddenly, fate made a perverse turn, and Chloe's savior appeared, in the form of a mangy black cat. Cats had been know to find their way into the refuge, and prey on the rats. Chloe reacted.  
  
The cat was meowing loudly, and he was between Chloe and the three captors. Chloe dropped suddenly, rolled, and grabbed the cat as he came up to his knees and threw the yowling, furious tom into Snyder's face. The tom, enraged, clawed furiously, and dug in.  
  
Chloe was on the one guard, her fist going hard and low into the man's groin. She saw the other guard out of the corner of her eye, and elbowed him in the stomach.  
  
Snyder was screaming, and the mangy tom, bless him, was shredding his face.  
  
The one guard was breathing loud, his ugly face flushed from anger and pain. "You bitch," he grunted, but Chloe took a quick dashing lead to his left and smashed her fist into his jaw.  
  
She heard Snyder cursing, saw the tom go flying off his chest and land lightly on his feet. His tail was full and he was hissing. Chloe wished that she could command the tom to leap again on Snyder's chest.  
  
Chloe ran full force toward Snyder, taking him by surprise, and tackled him down. "You lost Snyder," she said mocking him, "You're just too dumb to realize it." And with that, she ran in the same direction that the tom went: to freedom.  
  
Once she was a safe distance away from the Refuge, she began whistling for the tom and making her way back home. 


	5. Chapter 4

There was a celebration at the Manhattan Lodging House that night. It was Jack's eighteenth birthday, and there wasn't a newsie around who didn't want to be there to celebrate it. But of all of the guys there, there was one who had disappeared, and only one other who noticed.  
  
Spot crawled up the fire escape as quietly as he could, and looked around to see who was up there. He glanced around and didn't see anything. As he started to turn to go back down to he party, he heard someone humming a song, a song that he knew. It was the song that Chloe had once sung to comfort herself when she was lonely. Spot looked across the rooftop and saw his good friend. It was clear the Jack didn't know that he was there. He looked so sad and alone up there. Spot know what Jack was thinking about, but decided to play dumb.  
  
"Heya Jacky-boy. What're ya doin' up here all alone when der's a damn good party goin' on down stairs?" he asked with an upbeat voice.  
  
"Jus' thinkin' Spot." Was the only reply that he got.  
  
"'Bout what, Jack?" Spot asked as he took a place besides his friend.  
  
"Nuttin' much."  
  
"Jack, we'se been friends for a long time, right?" Spot asked. When Jack nodded, he continued. "So do ya honestly think dat I believe that horse- shit?"  
  
"Spot, I just cant get 'er outta my mind! It's drivin' me crazy not knowin' if she's alright."  
  
"Me too, Jack. But ya cant linger on it. I was her friend too, rememba? But do ya see me sulkin' around all da time? No. Why? Because I try ta think of all of the good times dat I had wit her. And I try ta imagine day she's fine and happy. Hey, rememba da time when we was at Medda's and she tried ta talk her way outta getting' caught liftin' dat guys's wallet by sayin' dat is was just so packed in der dat she thought dat she was puttin' her had in her own pocket?"  
  
"Yeah, and da jack-ass actually believe her?" Jack laughed out loud. He had forgotten how good laughing made him feel. "Dat was great! And den when he turned his attention back to da stage, she took it anyways?"  
  
Spot laughed with his friend, happy to see a real smile on his face, remembering their good friend. They spent the rest of the night, and a good part of the morning laughing about the memory of Chloe and remembering how good it had been with her around. The party was completely forgotten. 


End file.
